


Hostages and Heroes

by sunkelles



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: A Family Friendly Fic, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Hostage Situations, One Shot, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 15:52:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8898100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: Jyn Erso is captured at the beginning of Rogue One. Some things change, while others do not.





	

Your mother lies dead on the ground, and you run. You run and run, hair blowing back in the wind. 

 

Your father told you to run and hide, and never look back, but you couldn't. You watched as the man you called uncle killed your mother. Now the image replays in your mind over, and over, and over again.

 

Your breathing turns to panting as you run faster. You hear the stormtroopers behind you, and you know that they're gaining, know that they will catch you. 

 

You run faster, as fast as your legs can carry you. You run so fast your heart feels like it's about to burst. 

 

The footsteps get louder as you run, and you try to run faster. You trip, and you fall on the soft grass. The trooper grasps you by the scruff of your neck.

 

"I've got her," she says. You kick and you scream and you flail as hard as you can. 

 

Your father told you not to let them take you, and you just watched them kill your mother. You would rather die than let them touch you. They drag you over to where your father stands with horror in his eyes. Orson Krennic's eyes, however, are filled with delight. 

 

"Jyn," Uncle Orson says, with a sick smile on his face, "how very nice to see you again." 

 

 

 

They drag you into the ship and your father comes willingly (why does he come willingly?) and they shove you both into a locked room on the ship.

 

"We have to escape," you say, frantically. You're assessing every exit, trying to see if there is a way out. 

 

"There is no way out, stardust," he says. 

 

"No, papa," you say, "you said I have to get away from them. We still can we just have to-" 

 

"If you try, they will kill you," he says. You feel like you've been struck.

 

"Papa," you says. He comes over to you, and picks you up.

 

"Stardust," he says, "they have us we just, we have to deal with it. We'll be alright, I promise." 

 

"But you said-" 

 

"I know, Jyn," he says, "I know, but things have changed. They have us now, but I promise, I'll keep you safe." The door to the room opens, and the man you can no longer think of as an uncle struts in, confident in his victory. 

 

"I hope the accommodations are to your liking," he says, a smirk on his face. You feel hatred bubble inside of you, and say the worst thing you know to him. 

 

"Fuck you." You hear your father stifle a laugh. Krennic's smile melts away to a thinly veiled glare. 

 

"Galen," he says curtly, "I have spared your daughter, filthy mouth and all." Your father nods. 

 

"Thank you," your father says, cautiously. 

 

"I expect your full cooperation, or I will not continue to do so," he says. 

 

"Of course," your father says, a little bitterly, "I expected nothing less." Krennic turns abruptly to leave, and his black troopers flank him. 

 

"Get the girl a holovid or something," Krennic says, "just make sure she doesn't tear up the room." The trooper gets you a whole array of holovids, and a stuffed loth-cat. You know you are a captive, but it's not as bad as it could be. You are safe, and warm and fed. And you're with your father. You think, secretly, that this might be better than escaping.

 

 

 

 

 

You spend years in those quarters, learning every subject you can, and learning the words to every imperial approved holovid by heart.

 

"I love you so much," your father tells you constantly, whenever he needs a reminder of what he's doing this for. 

 

Krennic threatens to ship you off to the Academy a few times, but he never does. Your father convinces him you are more useful here, and here you stay, bored shitless and stir-crazy, but loved and unscathed. Your father doesn't tell you much about the atrocities the Empire is committing, and he _definitely_ doesn't tell you about the ones he's helping them commit. 

 

You know that they happen though. You know the empire, and you your father. No matter his morals, he is a weapons genius. That's why Krennic chased him across the Galaxy, then snatched you both up to force him to work for the Empire. If your father weren't s weapons genius, Krennic would never have bothered with that. He would not have bothered with him at all. 

 

 

 

 

 

Your general ignorance changes years later, when you're twenty two years old. Your father comes back to your quarters (cell) one day, and he seems off. He can't stop moving around nervously. 

 

"Papa," you say, "what is it?" You try to sound light, conversational. You don't want to think that something can be seriously wrong. 

"Jyn," he says, "this is important." 

 

Nothing is _ever_ important. You always talk about holodramas and memories, things that keep you both distracted from the horrors just outside of your door. This is different, though. This is _serious_. 

 

"The project I've been working on, it's bigger than I let on," he says this with a nervous laughter in his tone, something deep and dark and self-deprecating. 

 

"What is it?" you ask. You have never seen your father like this, even when Krennic threatened to have you shipped off to the Academy. Whatever this is, it's bigger than anything you've faced before. 

 

"The Empire has constructed something called the Death Star from my plans," he says. 

 

"Death Star?" you ask. The name sounds goofy, childish, like something out of a Jedi Tale. You know your father's tone though, and you know this is no Jedi Tale. This is something real, and something dangerous. 

 

"A space station capable of destroying planets," your father says, "this is how the Empire used my talents." The last part comes out bitterly, and you hear a bit of guilt as well. 

 

"What did you do to stop it?" you ask softly. You  _know_ yourfather. You know that he ran from the Empire all those years ago because he realized that it was monstrous, using his weapons on civilians, trying to keep the populace in line. Your father would never build something like that without a fail safe. 

 

"I designed a flaw within it, something that will send it up in flames," he says. You smile. You  _knew_ that he had a plan. Your father would never have helped with that unless he knew he could help bring it down. 

 

"This information needs to reach the rebels as soon as possible." You nod. 

 

"We leave tonight then," you say. 

 

"No," he says, " _you_ will." 

 

"What?" you ask. You must have heard wrong. Your father can't be planning to stay behind. 

 

"I have given this information to one of my pilots. A man with a good heart. I trust him to see this mission through," he says, "he will get you both to Saw Guerra." 

 

"Papa," you say, "no, I'm not leaving you." Your father endured working for the Empire, a government he had run from years ago, to keep you safe. He threw aside most of his morals for you. You are not leaving him to die for you too. 

 

You have spent of your life as a hostage, but a happy one. One with a father who loves you, living in near luxury. You do not want to imagine life without him. The last time you did, you were a little girl running for your life. 

 

The prospect might be even scarier now, as a grown woman so complacent in your routine. 

 

"I need you safe, stardust," he says. This is him condemning himself to torture and death. For your father, this is suicide. 

 

"No," you say, "I can't- papa, I can't leave you." You won't.  No matter what he wants, you won't give him this. He embraces you tightly, and places a gentle kiss to your forehead. 

 

"Please," he says, "they will notice the moment I try to leave. But you? You can get off planet, out of the system before anyone notices." You can see the logic in this. You are just his daughter, one who no one but he, Krennic and a few troopers have even seen. You have a chance to get off the station. But him? He's an imperial science officer who still has his daughter hostage for his good behavior. He is not fully trusted, but he is fully known. He would never make it off planet without someone taking note. 

 

You can feel tears building up in your eyes. 

 

"I love you, papa," you say. He hugs you tighter, like it is the last time he ever will. You suspect that it is. 

 

"Be safe, my stardust," he says, "know that I love you." 

 

You grab the essentials and put them into a knacksack, and you sneak out to the docking bay. You are able to find Bohdi Rook easily enough, and utter the code phrase to him. He helps you slip into his TIE fighter, and then revs the engine. He takes off, all bundled nerves until you cannot see the planet behind you. Then, he he seems to relax, and tries to speak to you. 

 

"You're Erso's daughter?" the pilot asks. You nod, unable to find your voice. The further you fly from the base, the harder it becomes for you to breath. 

 

"He speaks highly of you," he says. You can feel your throat constricting around you. The guilt of doing nothing about the Empire's tyranny for so long, for running now, and for leaving your father to take the fall for it weigh heavy on your soul. 

 

"Please, just fly," you say. The sooner you reach Saw, the better. You do not know if he will remember you, the little girl he called Jynny and almost raised, but you cling to the hope that he will. Perhaps he still holds some affection for you, that that will get him to listen. 

 

Because getting these plans to the rebellion? That's the only chance anyone has of surviving. You are tired of living on your knees, of turning blind eyes to the atrocities the empire has committed. 

 

You are committed now, for your father, for the Galaxy, and for yourself. 

 

You are Jyn Erso, and you are a rebel now. 


End file.
